Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has embarked on an emergency measles vaccination campaign in Zurmi Local Government Area (LGA), where an outbreak has killed 24 children.
The international humanitarian agency is running the campaign in collaboration with the Zamfara State Ministry of Health, Abdullahi Ali, its head of mission, disclosed in a statement on Tuesday.
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Reports said most of the victims of the disease outbreak were unvaccinated children under five years of age.
The six-day campaign, which began on Tuesday, targets children between six months and five years old. An official said the goal is to stop the spread of measles quickly and prevent more deaths.
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The MSF team is also screening children during the campaign for signs of malnutrition, using a simple arm measurement (MUAC), with undernourished individuals referred to nearby health centres for treatment.
Mr Ali said the emergency measure was prompted by over 1,600 suspected measles cases reported across the 11 wards in Zurmi since early May. He said the cases far exceed the epidemic threshold.
Furthermore, he said the current death rate stands at 1.2 per cent, with many of the severely ill children also battling other health complications such as eye infections, malaria, and, significantly, malnutrition.
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Describing the devastating impact, the MSF official said: “Children in Zurmi are facing a double crisis of disease and hunger. We are seeing a sharp rise in measles cases, along with high levels of malnutrition, which makes children even more vulnerable.”
Mr Ali noted that a nutrition screening conducted in June 2024 showed that over one in four children in Zurmi were undernourished, with more than four per cent suffering from severe malnutrition. This figure, he said, is well above emergency levels set by the World Health Organisation, noting that the MSF-run treatment centre at Zurmi General Hospital was admitting an increasing number of children with severe nutrition-related complications.
“To reach as many children as possible, MSF is using both fixed vaccination sites and mobile teams that can travel to remote and hard-to-reach areas. The aim is to vaccinate at least 95 per cent of children in the target age group to protect the wider community and stop the outbreak,” Mr Ali said.
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“A previous vaccination campaign in June 2024 only reached 59 per cent of children due to a shortage of vaccines and security issues in some areas,” the official said.
Mr Ali said the current outbreak is particularly severe in communities such as Zurmi town, Dauran Birnin Tsaba, Mayasa Kuturu, and Rukudawa, where regular vaccination services are limited and access to healthcare remains difficult.
MSF appealed to all partners and health authorities to support this urgent response and help ensure that every child in Zurmi gets the care and protection they need.
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